


Bright Star

by Vorcha_Girl



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, F/M, Love, Love Confessions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-07 16:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11627295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorcha_Girl/pseuds/Vorcha_Girl
Summary: On what could be their last day on Earth, Garrus and Ashley finally find the courage to tell one another how they really feel.





	Bright Star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caryl (Kahika)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahika/gifts).



_ A/N - I was lucky enough to get the lovely Starshone for Spec Recs this year, so I wrote her a fluffy Ashley x Garrus fic. I had lots of fun writing this. _

* * *

Garrus couldn't say when his feelings for Ash changed. When his friendly admiration for her skill with a sniper rifle grew into a decidedly  _ more than friendly _ desire to watch her wield her weapon on her battlefield. When his competitive need to test his hand to hand combat skills against her formidable prowess on the training mat, bloomed into a more intimate desire to test his  _ reach and flexibility _ against hers. Or when the nervous thunder of his heartbeat when she passed him in the Normandy transformed into a steady and warm glow of happiness.

But it had.

Long nights swapping war stories, sweaty hours spent training in the cargo hold, and even the odd hour spent holed up in the shuttle together, sharing poetry in whispered snatches. Their shoulders bumping and heads touching; bodies so close and yet so far. They grew so close and yet Garrus wanted more. 

He wanted to trace his talons along her skin and feel for himself how soft it actually was. He wanted to feel her long silky hair against his skin. He wanted to feel her wrap those limbs around him so tightly that he didn't know where he ended and she began. 

He wanted so much more than what they had, but … what if she didn't want the same things?

Frustrated, Garrus tightened his grip on his sniper rifle and sighted down the scope, the burnt out buildings of London rising around them like a toothy jagged grin. He could feel time slipping away from him, the clock somehow ticking faster the closer they drew to the endgame. Ash was beside him as always, her blue armour scuffed and pockmarked, the char marks and scrapes testament to the battles she had survived. 

Ash, like him, was a survivor; doomed to carry on even when their comrades and friends fell.

Bullets smashed into the wall nearby, showering them with flecks of bricks and mortar, and Ash cursed as her shields ripples with light. The distant howl of husks echoed over the battlefield, the louder roar of cannibals, and the bone chilling shriek of a banshee. The animalistic cries sent shivers down Garrus' spine, and it took everything in him to follow Ash as she powered on across the battlefield, following Shepard's lead.

The Spectres moved in blue streaks; Shepard because of her biotics, and Ash because of her armour. Garrus covered them both, his heart in his mouth as they took on the towering banshee, the women dancing around it in flashes of gunfire and biotic explosions. He fired over and over again, his shoulders aching from the constant recoil - but he wouldn't let them down. The banshee was tough, but they'd taken down so many - what was one more? It staggered and started to fall, and Shepard moved on - surging forward in a charge.

She didn't see the banshee lunge at Ashley.

She didn't see it grab her with it's spidery black hand.

Garrus wasn't sure if he screamed.

He couldn't hear anything over the pounding of his heart and the surge of adrenaline as he lined up a shot and fired.

The banshee's head exploded and it melted away in a shower of light ...  _ but had he been in time _ ?

Was Ash okay?

"Williams?" He raced towards her, cement and debris scattering around him as he clattered down the hill towards where she lay, the fading outline of the banshee lying across her. "Ash?"

_ Spirits, please. _ Garrus prayed.  _ Not Ash. Let her be okay. _

Blood was splattered across the jewel blue armour that was a perfect match for his own. The black blood of a banshee, not red, and Garrus' heart began to beat again as Ash coughed and sat up. Her brown eyes were wide as she shoved the lingering glowing chunks of banshee off of her. 

He didn't hesitate as he fell to his knees beside the woman he loved, because Spirits, he loved her; he had for longer than he cared to admit. He didn't think as he pulled her into his arms, their armour grating unpleasantly as he crushed her to him, his eyes closing tightly as he pressed his forehead to hers, his breath coming hard and fast.

"I thought ... ," he couldn't finish, but he didn't need to.

Ash nodded. "I know. It had me. I felt ... ." She shuddered and Garrus held her tighter as she pressed close. "God, if you hadn't had my back-" She couldn't seem to finish either, and Ash pulled back to look into his face, her eyes burning fiercely as she gripped him tight. "Garrus-"

"It's okay," he choked out. "You don't have to say anything. I'll always have your back."

He didn't want to hear her tell him that she'd always be his friend. Not now. Now on this blackened battlefield, covered in the blood of a corrupted asari, and holding onto each other so tightly it felt as though if they let go the world would fling them apart. He wanted to live in the moment for a little bit longer. To pretend that she felt the same way as he did, that she loved him as much as he loved her. 

Just for now. 

Just for a moment. 

Just before the end came and they went out in a fiery blaze.

She touched his face, her fingers gentle, at odds with her other hand which gripped his armour so tightly he could feel the tremor through his armour, and slowly she leaned forward, the sound of the raging battle falling away as Garrus heard only the words she whispered to him.

" _ Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art _ ."

The words were familiar. Poetry. They stirred something in him. Memories of sitting with Ash as she recounted a favourite love poem late at night. The way she'd watched him, her eyes unreadable. The way she'd taken his hand briefly. He hadn't known much of human courtship. Hadn't known what to do. Hadn't known if anything was expected of him, or if he was reading signals correctly or imagining them.

"Ashley." His eyes softened and he caught her hand, careful not to hurt her as he curled his fingers around hers. She got to her feet with him, the battle raging around them once more, though for the moment it remained the two of them, lost to each other, alone in a world all of their own making. "I ..." he swallowed, nerves getting the better of him as his words stuck to the inside of his mouth.

She smiled, tremulously, but hopeful. "You're my bright star, Garrus Vakarian, and ... and I love you," Ash confessed in a rush. "I think I have for a long time."

"I love you too," Garrus murmured, and he jumped as another banshee scream shattered their moment. He chuckled as they both whirled around and scanned the rubble. "I guess we left it a little late for a romantic date?"

"This isn't romantic enough for you, Vakarian?" She elbowed him in the side, the romance of the moment gone, and they set off in the same direction as Shepard, following the trail of destruction and bodies she'd left in her wake. "A suicide mission at the world's end with the woman of your dreams?"

"I guess when you put it like that, there's no place else I'd rather be." Garrus chuckled as they caught up with the rest of the task force. "Just promise me one thing. When we come through this okay, you'll let me take you out, you'll read me the rest of that poem, and you'll let me kiss you?"

Ashley smiled at him, a genuine smile that left her tawny eyes sparkling and made Garrus' blood fizz in his veins.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Gladly."

* * *

 

_A/N - I hope you liked it! ^_^_


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